Nation Conversations: Emily Douglas and Bryce Covert on What New Credit Card Regulation Means for Women

Under new credit card regulations, will women find it harder to access credit?

April 26, 2011

Bryce Covert explains how new credit card regulations designed to stop predatory practices could end up disproportionately hurting women.

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By passing the CARD Act, Congress has rolled out new regulations to prevent credit card companies from giving lines of credit with terrible terms to individuals who won’t be able to pay their fees or interest. However, there’s one small problem: the regulations may have the “unintended consequence” of negatively impacting women because the new regulations require lenders to consider an individual’s income rather than making decisions to extend credit based on household income.

As Bryce Covert explains in this Nation Conversation conversation with Nation web editor Emily Douglas, credit card regulation is not a bad thing. Credit card companies have “perfected the art of keeping consumers in debt” and need to be reined in. But some women may be prevented from getting credit under the new regulations.